360 And PS3 Experience Japanese Chart Comeback

Although Nintendo’s DS Observation Training is once again at number on in the Japanese sales charts, the most notable activity of the week is the appearance of both an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title in the top ten.

Bandai Namco’s Trusty Bell: Chopin’s Dream (to be known as Eternal Sonata in the West) once again illustrates the importance of role-playing games to any future success for the Xbox 360 in Japan, with the second best performance ever for an Xbox 360 game after Mistwalker’s Blue Dragon (which registered 80,348 units in its debut week).

However, with only 49,334 unit sales for Trusty Bell, compared to 64,439 for DS Observation Training, the Xbox 360’s success has come during the slowest week of sales so far this year in Japan - with the lowest ranking titles in the top ten barely managing more than 15,000 unit sales.

The PlayStation 3 has also taken advantage of the lack of other major releases, with Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden Sigma only a few thousand units behind Trusty Bell at 46,307. The appearance of the game is even more important for Sony’s format, which has not seen a single entry in the Japanese top fifty for over a month.

The only other new entry in the top thirty this week is also a PlayStation 3 title, with Activision’s Call of Duty 3 (published in Japan by Spike) debuting at number fourteen. The relative success of the game once again suggests that World War II themed titles are by far the most popular form of first person shoot ‘em-up in Japan, following minor successes for several Medal of Honor releases.